Originally published at: This freaky monstrosity from the deepest sea turned up on a California beach | Boing Boing
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cool!
this part, though:
aren’t we all, really?
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The term sexual parasite for this is kind of strange to me honestly. Isn’t it still mutualism? I mean, the females couldn’t have any offspring without them there. It’s not like they are secretly yearning to be rid of them or something…it’s basically just an organ donation.
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So that’s what Slimer looked like before he died.
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Obligatory link to The Oatmeal comic: How The Male Angler Fish Gets Completely Screwed - The Oatmeal
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It’s rather fusing than bonding, but whatever makes the relationship work, right?
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That’s not even the weird part.
WTF Evolution?
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In the deep sea one anglerfish is lucky to find another, let alone food for both of them. So once he’s found her his brain and things are costly, and sperm is all he was going to contribute to the next generation anyway. It’s like the many animals that die after mating…except an improvement, since at least he can keep doing that.
Another version kind of like that happens in spoon worms. Larvae that find a place to make a burrow become big females. Larvae that don’t but only find ones that have been taken by females become tiny males that live on them and provide sperm instead. They don’t fuse, since they’re not likely to get lost, but the principle is the same.
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